Split Seams
by Plumminimity
Summary: Three girls are thrust into the streets of New York, and their life with the newsies helps delineate where real loyalties lie. [unfinished, IN PROGRESS]
1. Split Seams, 1

Part One - Venturing 

INSIDE THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST MINORS' BOARDING HOUSE, NY 1900

            "DAAAAAAMMMMIIIIT!"

            Sarah winced at the call of the angry wildebeest, otherwise known as Madame Meccant. She took a deep breath and braced herself for the assault of the senses she had to be put through several times every day.  A large, bright red blob of a woman barged into the room, preceded by a cloud of smoke mixed with awful French perfume.  The blob effect was achieved by her unhealthy overweight stature, while the color shot the senses like a shiny new gun.  It was completed by a too-tight dress the color of a cardinal and a shawl just the right shade brighter than the dress to completely strain the eyes. The girls had become quite adept at blocking out both sight and smell of the workhouse supervisor.

            "Who left the ashes by my bed again?? I want an answer and I want it now!" was the belted order. The woman's glare and expression were deadly. Madame Meccant scoured the bunkroom with her eyes, looking at each of the 25 girls in turn, nostrils flaring almost comically. Utter silence was returned.

            "AhhhhhhgggggAAAAAAR!!!!" she grunted with fury, going almost purple in the face. She composed herself as well as could be called 'composed' for that frightful mess of a person. "Fine. No supper for a week for the lot of yeh, and the next time it happens it means whippin's for each and ev'ry one of yeh dirty urchins! And if yeh think there'll be any free time this week, yeh've got another thin' comin'!!" She snarled the last phrase through gritted teeth and waddled back toward her business chambers.

            The girls relaxed, but whipped back into position when Madame whirled around to bark, "Elyse! Sarah! Jane! Yeh can clean up the mess caused by the carelessness o' one of yeh fellow workers!" 

            The three named girls looked at each other and followed Madame into her quarters. "Why does she hate US so much?" Sarah mumbled. There were three girls with her name in the group of workers, but when the it was combined with the other two everybody knew which Sarah it was: Sarah Kathryn, surnameless like the rest of her comrades. They followed the massive woman, picking through the masses of dirty skirts and old, hand-me-down fancy dresses crumpled on the short hallway floor. "I wonder if she'll be able to find the mess she got into a fit about under all this trash!" Jane whispered to Sarah. She barely suppressed a giggle, but needn't have worried about that as soon as she walked into the bedroom; it was a veritable disaster area. The smells alone prevented her from inhaling enough to actually laugh - a mixture of cigarette smoke, rotting food, and cheap imitation French perfume.

            "There, do you see that?!? What kind of wretch would leave a can o' ashes right next to a bloomin' bed?? You'd betteh have this spotless before work hours. I'll be in m'office, let me know when yeh finish!" 

She rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Meanwhile, all three girls were trying to discern just which mess she was pointing at. Elyse gingerly picked up a bodice that was turning gray from age and probably smoke as well by the corner and tossed it aside. Sarah stared at the supposed ash mess, and Jane began snooping around the vanity.

            "Hey! Look at what I found!! It almost looks like LOVE letters!" Though not the youngest of the trio, Jane was certainly the most childish. "Listen to this: 'My pet, c/o Triangle Shirtwaist Company, Asch Building, blah blah blah, I cant live without your pungently sweet perfume pervading my life - Wow, Meccant's been here ages... Goodness, they're dated 1874! I suppose she might have been less of a wit.... er, she must have been more attractive then." She was also blessed with the misfortune of sometimes missing the filter between her brain and her mouth.  They worked with resign through some of the mess of the room, Sarah alone concentrating on the ash ordeal.  They all knew they'd get reprimanded more if they didn't tidy in general.          

            The other girls snickered as Jane dug deeper in to the pile, covering her reddish hair with dust as she did. "What's this?" Elyse, glad for a distraction, looked at the papers in her hands. A devious look crossed her face. 

.           "Do you know what those are?! It's the guidelines for running State Established Laborer Minor Lodgings!!!" Her excitement was met with a blank stare from Jane.

             "That would be _us, dummy! Let's see what that fake frenchie's been skimping on for her precious female charges." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.  They riffled through the lists, noticing several small items that were certainly not being observed. "Hmmm... We're supposed to get two and ½ cups of gruel a day, instead of just two. Oh joy! More tasteless goodies for us!" She mock gagged and sent Jane into a giggling fit.  Sarah, finally fed up with having to clean up all the ashes herself, wandered over to see what they were so excited about._

"Hey, you wanna help me with the real mess before Meccant erases our bread crumb trail to the bunkroom and tries to eat us alive?" She took a section of her curly hair, shaking out the ashes until the original strawberry blonde color was recognizable. "What is so blessed interesting??" She gave in and looked over their shoulders.

              _'The boarding house must not be more than two (2) city blocks away from the collective place of employment.' Ha, that's a laugh - we have to walk five blocks! She skimmed the page in slight amazement and anticipation. The true importance didn't dawn on her until she paid attention to the violent poking her subconscious was doing to her conscious mind due to item number twenty-eight. It finally caught her eye and stopped all other thoughts. Her ideas whirling on a whole new tangent now, she read it again, and then again._

            "Elyse, you said these were state guidelines, right? That makes them law, right?!?"

             "Um, yes,  but it's not as if they've been guiding much, I mean just look at the curfew-" 

            "Forget the curfew! According to this, we can leave this hellhole!" The jaws of Elyse and Jane took on an altogether lower locale. "Look," Sarah elaborated, "It says here that any laborers above 14 years of age, that's us, who have worked three or more years, check!, and have no family to speak of who would prefer that they remain in the labor institute," she snorted at this point then excitedly continued with growing volume, "ahem, _ARE FREE TO MAKE FOR THEMSELVES A SUITABLE LIFE OUTSIDE THE STATE ORPHAN INSTITUTE!" _

             She coughed due to the large amount of putrid air that yelling had required her to inhale. "That stupid whale was telling us we had to wait 'til we were 18 to leave, with supervision! Surely it makes her more money the longer we're here.... what say we take this up with the corporate board?" The squeals the other two had been emitting stopped.

            "There's no way we could do that!" cried Jane. "They never see workers!" The Board was full of aging, corpse-like older men in varying stages of senility.  They disliked having any of their regulations under scrutiny and especially disliked having to deal with the actual people they were supposed to oversee the protection of.

             "So? It's the only way out of here in the near. Today's our lucky day, girls, the board meets at 8. I'm going to go put us in the public agenda... I'd better write up some arguments..." She walked though the mess to the bunkroom as if she were floating, excitedly mumbling to herself.

            Elyse and Jane stood amongst the mess, staring at the door she had disappeared through. "Tell me I didn't just imagine that we have a chance outta here," Jane said in disbelief.

             "No... but it'll get worse for us if whatever nonsense she's cooking up backfires," Elyse said with a sigh. She considered her friend's sometimes hopeless unreliability. "Let's hope, and pray!"

Blinking in the harsh sunlight, Sarah took a deep breath and looked at the city around her, realizing its potential for the first time. In the orphanage they had just been meaningless names, going nowhere and seeming to be only a burden on anyone they met. When they chose to work in the orphanage-affiliated factory nothing changed save that they then had the small daily task of sewing unnumbered amounts of clothing that they could never wear. Now that they were free, they discovered that they had identities.

            Sarah came to know herself as a creative and slightly mysterious intellectual.  There was a kind of logic she used that tended to blindside others with its simplicity.  Her actions as well were simple - every meaning had a purpose, with weight and grace.  She often was asked if she was a dancer because of her way of carrying herself and probably also due to her slim figure.  Her curly blonde hair was unruly, and her mostly gray eyes were open windows to emotions.  Still, she could cloud them over whenever she felt the need.  Something about Sarah gave the impression of stability and wisdom, though it was impossible to pinpoint why. It was what made people go to her for advice. 

Jane on the other hand was the tall and easily excitable procrastinator. She had untapped eccentricity that made her always appear like a geyser that just about to go off but never got to that point.  She often bit off more than she could chew.  This gave her a kind of stress she didn't like dealing with, so therefore she didn't and kept on smiling mischievously through everything.  Her nearly red hair was not quite head turning but her light blue eyes had their own disconcerting quality to make up for it.  Jane was the kind of person that seemed so harmless, yet anyone who got into an argument with the stubborn girl knew they wouldn't want to mess with her and probably wished they hadn't begun to do so in the first place.

   The third newly freed girl was more reluctant in embracing her new life: The oldest yet smallest, Elyse was more of a conservative at heart than her comrades.  She kept her clothes and short light blonde hair neat and well cared for, but she couldn't escape that air of hidden erraticness no matter how hard she tried. And boy did she try… She could let herself be smart, or friendly, or the taskmaster - her usual choice was a combination of all three. The girls had finally found themselves; the question was, what were they to do _now?_

            After Sarah had waltzed into the board meeting waving her paper of revelations around, the board members agreed to gradually enforce the rules and to let the girls go free on the grounds that they didn't let it leak that the big bad New York State Orphanage Association wasn't keeping policies up to par.  The look in the eyes of all twelve members, lined up on a platform like victims of a firing squad, was sheers embarrassed disbelief. "Well, Miss…., er, Miss Sarah, I believe it is in the best interests of the Association to undertake the investigation of this matter privately," Chairman Braucher had replied to the girl's ravings.  "We'd appreciate it if you take your positions in society without interfering with the proceedings."  He nervously pulled on his salt-and-pepper beard as he said this.  The concept of such a large cover up obviously frightened him half out of his corporate hided chair.

The very next day Sarah, Elyse, and Jane packed their few belongings and found themselves asking the aforementioned question. What were they to do?

            All three had been brainstorming and wandering the city from early morning, and had begun to get stuck in a groove of endless circling questions by noontime.  Elyse was beginning to explain an almost decent plan when a voice from the alley behind them called, "Uh, hey goils, if ya don' mind me askin' but what da hell are ya doin right smack in front of an alleyway?" Unbeknownst to themselves the girls had drifted into exactly the wrong place for anyone to pass by them into or out of the alley. 

            Their heads snapped up at the sound of the male voice. Sarah shouted with a burst of adrenaline-lined whim, "Baring our souls to the world! What's it to you?"

The boy emerged from the alley but hung in the cool shadows, away from the late spring sun. "Well, see, I'se a newsie and dis is where I do most a' me sellin'." 

The girls understood what he meant. The streets fairly crawled with the assortment of boys and occasionally girls who yelled out meaningless headlines to sell their newspapers for a penny per paper.  Even though they made less money than these newsies as they liked to call themselves, the girls had taken a contemptuous sort of dislike for the children who worked the streets on their own. 

            Continuing on his thought, the specimen of street-dwellers said, "All me regulahs come by heah, and widout them I don' sell enough ta keep woiking. Therefoah," he added with mock politeness, "I'se askin ya ta kindly 'bare ya souls' somewheah else, thankeeverymuch!"  He shot them a smile that wasn't unkind but still made them bristle like cats.  Jane looked at Elyse, Elyse looked at Sarah, they all turned to simultaneously stick out their tongues and then stalked away together.

             _Cute an' feisty, the newsboy thought with a smile. __Jack'd prolly like 'em.   He spotted a regular buyer coming up to him with a penny. "'Ere, miss, have a good day!" With that the selling for the day commenced and he was distracted from further thought of the wandering girls._

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            The girls were now actually at a loss. They had very little money, no food, and not a clue under which roof they might sleep that night. The state had let them out on the grounds that they provide their own shelter, and they had been so excited at the prospect of getting out that shelter had seemed a small obstacle to true freedom.  That rash thought had immeasurable drawbacks, it now seemed.  As it was past noon they figured the time was now or never, so they all walked to the nearest dining establishment, a small joint with chipped lettering reading "Tibby's" on the window. Jane took their pooled money and ordered salads for all of them, remarking that this was already harder than they thought it would be. Her friends rolled their eyes and made sure Jane knew that the obvious need not be stated, especially when their money was dwindling before their eyes.  When they finished eating they sat there dejectedly waiting for something to happen.

            It did.

            After about an hour of getting little to no inspiration from the dim restaurant they gathered up their bags and prepared to leave. Sarah was looking at the empty plates thinking the girls had no hope, when the newsboy who had previously run into them entered the diner. He groaned good-naturedly at the sight of them, and sauntered up to the table. 

            "Heya goils, have any luck wi'dat soul barin' stuff?" Elyse glared at him. 

            "As a matter of fact… we did not," she lamely retorted as she slumped back into her chair. He flashed an arrogant smile.

            "I t'ink we got off on da wrong foot. I never interduced meself - da boys call me Snoddy" he said, extending his hand. Sarah, the nearest to him, stared at it as if it were a deformed hedgehog recently dipped in cow dung. 

            "Sorry buddy boy but I don't think any of us cares what 'the boys' call you. We'll be leaving now," she said as she grabbed her shawl from her chair.  Even she was surprised at the snappy tone she'd taken on.  Jane stopped her with an apologetic nod towards Snoddy. 

            "She's a little frustrated at the moment. Hi! My name's Jane, the little blonde one's Elyse and the overly rude one is Sarah. Actually, we're kinda in a jam right now so we should be going. Nice meeting you!"

            "What kinda jam?" 

Jane didn't hesitate with her reply. "We don't know the city too well, we've no place to sleep tonight, as of half an hour ago we're flat broke, and overall we have no idea where we're going," she chirped back to him. "Any suggestions?" 

            Sarah slapped her hand to her forehead.  She felt like a nanny telling off a three year-old for dabbling with matches.  "Jane," she hissed, "thanks for telling a strange boy how street stupid and vulnerable we are. Pardon me while I nip off and get murdered now!"

            Snoddy wisely ignored her and brightened up towards Jane. "Hey! I'se lived in New Yawk me whole life! I can prolly find ya a place ta stay. 'Coise, that would involve me lendin ya money which would require ya payin me back, and in most cases ya'd need jobs ta be able ta do that."  He heard the confusion in his own voice and stopped. "Uh, Maybe if I take ya ta find Jack he'll know what ta do." He looked at the wall clock and headed for the door. "Let's get goin', he might still be at his 57th Street spot."

            Sarah stared at him. Jane smiled. Elyse exploded. "Whoa whoa whoa, what just happened here? I must have missed something. I'm not going anywhere with a strange guy I just met." She crossed her arms over her chest and assumed a body stance that clearly said 'No way.' Jane, always the adventurous one, told her to lighten up. 

            "We don't have much else choice, hun," she said gently. Elyse thought hard, then turned to Sarah for an answer. Sarah retreated into her thoughts for a moment and kept drawing blanks, which frustrated her greatly.  All she could hear was a little voice going, 'Huh? Who? Huh? Who?" and so finally she rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in exasperation. "What the heck! Let's go put our lives in the hands of a street walker we just met! Show us the way to this Jerk guy, then."

            "Jack."

            "Whatever."

            They set off walking through the streets of Manhattan. In the afternoon sunlight the girls could see much more clearly what their companion looked like - tall and vaguely handsome. His strong jawline and clear brown eyes eyes were a pleasant surprise, and neither of those qualities was suppressed by the drab brown-tone clothes he wore.  The mop of chestnut hair atop it all complemented the picture quite nicely. As it was, he was a little overwhelmed to be surrounded by three such pretty girls. 

            Sarah was angry that she'd been so rude to him and was trying to figure out how to apologize with some shred of pride when Snoddy suddenly yelled, "Hey, Jack! Cowboy, ovah heah!"

            "Cowboys? In New York? Ugh!" Elyse exclaimed.  She liked order, and this was verging on becoming very unorderly indeed. 

            "Hey watch it blondie, he's a much respected newsie in dese parts. He could make ya or break ya... let's hope he ain't in the breakin' mood." 

Sarah snorted.  _Great, our fate depends on a displaced temperamental rodeo clown. I could kick myself!  she thought as she watched Jack approach.  He was a taller boy who had a very intimidating presence. His rough face was usually set off by his black cowboy hat, now dangling down his back. It was obvious he was a guy in charge._

 Snoddy gave her a look before spitshaking with Jack. "Heya Cowboy. How's da headline taday?" 

            "Snod, headlines don' sell papes... hey hey, what have we heah?"

            He immediately put on the charm for his female audience.  Like every other guy who believed he had ever-so-much experience buttering up to the ladies, he overdid it and came off looking cheesey and altogether more predator-like than he would have liked. They regarded him with suspicion, as they had every person they'd come in contact with since that morning. Still looking them over a little too hungrily, Jack said without looking at the addressee of his comment, "Interductions, Snoddy?" 

            "Uh, o'coise Jack, da tall one's Jane, da shoit blonde one's, um... Elsie, was it?" 

            " Elyse." 

            "Oh yeah, dat's it. An' da curlytop's Sarah."

            Sarah was getting impatient. "So, um, you're the famous Jack, great, but can we do something productive for a moment? I'd like to know where we're sleeping tonight. Do we have any plans? " she asked with a pointed look at Snoddy. 

            "Yeah so, see, dese goils don't have a place to stay. Do ya know where dey can crash for da night? I was thinkin' da goil's house might have room... dey don't got any dough an' everywheah else is pretty 'spensive."

            Jack thought for a moment, shaking his head. "Da Goil's Lodgin' House is full up, plus some. Do ya mind sleepin in da boy's house?" he directed towards the girls. "It ain't real unusual fer goils ta stay at da Duane street one since dere's is about 3 times too small." He noticed Elyse 's gaping mouth. "Y'ain't lookin' too open-minded right 'bout now... I imagine yer appearance would improve if yeh were," he stated with a teasing smile.

             _I've known him for two minutes and so far, he's made a ridiculous offer and insulted us. Unreal!   Sarah said out loud instead, "Are you serious?!"  The squeak in her voice gave her away. Jack gave her a questioning look and she continued with repulsion, "We can't possibly lodge with boys. It's not the way we were brought up. There's no way, not our first night in the city. Nuh uh." _

            "Well, toots, I'se thinkin you ain't got much choice."  The killing logic felt especially stinging to Sarah's ears. "'Sides, you'd have yer own room, it aint like dere ain't separate rooms... da only dang'rous place is da bunkroom an' I keep watch on da boys in dere anyhow." Jack said the last portion very matter-of-factly and settled back into the wall as if he'd grown out of it, lighting a cigarette.

            Still miffed at his initial behavior and reeling from being cornered into uncomfortable situations twice in one day, Sarah was reluctant to follow his advice. Drowsiness irked at her.  She looked over at her companions and took mental note of the exhausted looks on their faces.  After briefly weighing the facts in her head, she decided they might as well go if only to rest one night.

            "Alright, we'll stay at the Duane Street Lodging House. Just don't expect us to be perfect social butterflies, okay?" The boys nodded their approval. 

            Jack nodded to Snoddy. "Got da time?" 

            "Bout two o'clock." 

            "It's been grand goils, but I gotta talk ta Mush 'fore da evenin' edition comes out. See ya at da lodgin' house! Oh, wait, what're dey gonna do for suppa?" 

            Snoddy looked at the three. "Prolly Tibby's  'gain. I got enough extry dough for dem." 

            "See ya at Tibb's, den!" Jack called as he rounded the corner.

            "Mush?" Elyse asked.

             "Yeh, you'll meet 'im latah... what?" he stopped at the puzzled look on her face.

             "Your parents sure were cruel when they named you boys..." 

            Snoddy openly laughed at her, but halted when she cuffed him upside his head. "Sheesh, aintcha ever hoid of using nicknames fer protection? Listen, a lot of times da bulls are after newsies for some reason er other, an' whether we did it er not we gotta watch out. Changin yer name keeps ya outta jail sometimes, and nicknames stick when dey need ta do that. Den some kids don' got names anyway. Can ya handle dat?" He informed them with an almost patronizing politeness.

            Elyse looked almost, but not quite, hurt at having been confused.  "Lead the way, sir." she sneered at him. And so Snoddy led them to the lodging house. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            The moment they walked into the older wood-paneled building with the inscription "Newsboys Lodging House" above the door, the girls felt strangely comforted. Aside from this subconscious detection, they had scarcely been able to pull together their first impressions when a loud CRASH resounded from the back of the building. 

            Snoddy cringed and ran towards a pair of swinging doors. "Aw, Snipes, not again!" Glances of a chubby boy surrounded by large pots and pans were caught as the doors swung back and forth. Jane rushed forward to help while the other two clung to the door, still unsure. 

            The dazed boy was explaining, "I missed breakfast agin, I'se hungry..." 

            "Yeah, but remember how Mr. Kloppman said he'd be glad ta getcha somethin', s'long as it kept ya from messin' up his kitchen? Yeah, ya fergot, I know." He chuckled as ruffled Snipes' curly brown hair. "We can clean it up 'fore Kloppman gets back, kay?" It took them only a few minutes to get the pots in general order.

            "Kloppman'd keep a cleanah kitchen if the leftovers woin't stored next ta the pans." Snoddy sighed. "Goils, I'se got ta go finish sellin, so Snipeshootah heah will help ya out. Show em wheah the sign-in ledger is when Kloppman gets back, a'right?" he directed Snipeshoiter as he walked out the door. 

            Elyse almost had to stop Jane from following him. "You need to concentrate on the task at hand, dear." 

            Snipes snorted at her. "So wheah'd you goils meet Snoddy, huh?"

             "Nowhere special. So, Snipeshooter, is it? Anything we need to know about this place?"

            He smiled, glad to know something for once. He showed them around the main floor; from the worn lobby to the threadbare but cozy common area to the cramped kitchen to the small dining hall.  He pointed out the first hall of small divided rooms at the top of the stairs. "Dey's all kinda da same, all o' upstairs is like dis 'cept for da bunkroom. Boys usually sleep dere when da sellin' ain't too good, or da rooms are full up." He told them the price for a room (8 cents a night) dinner and breakfast (5 cents a meal) and bunkroom charges (5 cents a night). 

            By the time Mr. Kloppman came in with the dinner supplies around 5 o'clock, Snipes was pointing out the more concise and altogether important details of the lodging house. "Da second, fift, and sixt steps creak so ya knows not ta step on dem when you'se gettin' in late. Da fire escape from da bunkroom, Kloppman can see it from 'is office so if guys is sneakin' in goils dey use da one from da hall. Coise, den da one from da third floor bat'room is best for when guys is sweet talkin' goils 'cause it ain't in front o' no otha windows..."

            "Ahem."

            He instantly shrunk from his boastful posture as a deep blush crept up his cheeks. "Er, hiya Mr. Kloppman, sir, how are ya dis fine day?" He gave an awkward laugh. 

            Mr. Kloppman gave him a stern look before dumping a canvas bag at his feet. "Carry those to the kitchen an' I'll pretend I don' know what Blink an' his goil do on the fire escape," he said in a voice that almost entirely failed to sound harsh. The boy grinned and dutifully followed his orders.

            When they all reached the kitchen, the old man was nowhere to be seen. "Um, Mr. Kloppman?"

             "Yeeees?" they heard from somewhere behind the vegetable crate. His aged head popped up at length, staring maniacally at the potato in his hand. "Got ya!" He laughed at their confused and nearly scared expressions. "Stray potata. Hate when that happens." he explained as he wiped off his hands.

             "Now I understand yeh'll be needin rooms, an' that Snoddy'll pay fer tonight. The goil's house is full again, then? Well, if yeh still can't find anotha place tomorra yer welcome here. Alright then! Would you kindly help me set up for supper?"

            For the first time in hours they smiled sincerely; Kloppman had a way of making things seem on the up side.

            The girls retired to their room soon after the potato soup began to cook properly.  It was a plain square room with one cot-like bed and a stripped pine bedside table.  Kloppman had given them extra blankets. Minutes after they closed the door, a slight rumble grew to a dull thunder resounding from the dining area. Glad to have avoided the crowd of boys, drowsiness overcame them once more despite the early hour. Jane flopped on the bed fully clothed while Elyse and Sarah prepared themselves for a long night's rest after an exhausting day. They weren't used to such walking. 

            "For God's sake, Jane, at least take off your shoes!" Sarah said as she took the extra blanket and laid it out on the floor.

            "Mmmmmmfffffgh."

            Elyse hit her with a pillow. "It's alright, Jane, I'll just shove you off the bed if you kick me. Now move over!" she said, flipping the light switch. The room was plunged into darkness as the electric hum of the relatively new overhead light died down. 

            After ten minutes of silence, Sarah rolled over. " Elyse? Jane? You awake?"

            "No!" and "Mmmmffffnk!" were the responses. She continued anyway.

             "What do you think life'll be like now?" 

            Elyse partially sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Dear, compared to that hole, life out in the city will be first-rate no matter WHAT we do. We always have each other to fall back on if it isn't, anyway. Go to sleep already!" 

            Sarah nodded into her pillow and fell asleep with dreams of what the city might bring them in the days to come.


	2. Split Seams, 2

Part Two - Separation and the City

Sarah awoke to a soft rapping on the door. A voice behind it informed them, "6 o'clock, breakfast time!" She groggily stood up and opened the door a crack, peering into the hallway. Kloppman had moved on to the door of the adjacent room and several boys were joking with each other, heading towards the dining room.  
        She closed the door and shook the two girls on the bed awake. "C'mon, ladies, we can't figure out what we're going to do until we get up!" She tried to chirp cheerfully at them.  
        "I disagree," said Jane in a pillow muffled voice. "We could essentially make plans while lying down."  
         "Oh come on, you're not spending our first full day out of the hellhole in bed!" Sarah puffed between tugs on Jane's arm.  Both Jane and Elyse had finally gotten up and began getting dressed into their orphanage-issued, beige sack-like frocks. Sarah added, "Either way, we have to pay Snoddy back soon. I really can't think of how we-"  
          "Doesn't matter!" Elyse exclaimed with sudden vigor. "I'm famished. Let's eat before thinking, alright?"  
           The girls trekked through the lodging house to the dining room. It was full of boys of every size and age, hungrily eating bowls of oatmeal. Elyse noticed a group of newsboys pass through the kitchen doors and motioned to follow them. There they found Mr. Kloppman situated next to a large pot that emanated warmth and a homey oatmeal scent. He introduced his kitchen aide, Ryan, from whom they received hot bowls of oatmeal and a glass of apple juice. "On the house fer taday, goils, but don' get too comfortable or Snoddy'll be broke by the weekend," Kloppman told them with a warm smile on his face as he handed each girl her steaming bowl.  
           "Thank you, sir!" the girls responded as trained. They sat down at the end seats to one of two long tables in the dining room. "This is nice," Jane commented. And it was; the other diners were too engrossed with their food or not awake enough to take notice of the new females. On their way out of the dining room Kloppman stopped them. "Goils, what were you planning for taday?"  
        "Er...." Elyse began, looking at the others. "Actually, we aren't sure. I think the idea for today is to make some money so we can pay Snoddy back."  
        Kloppman smiled. "Believe it or not, but the best job you cin get in this city that pays a few extra cents up front is sellin' papers. There's bootblackin' as well, but most goils don' like getting messy, and ya won't be allowed to apply for a messenger's position. Ya wanna give it a whirl, save the time you'd've been usin' up lookin' for a place?"  
        Maybe it was that they were all in a better mood, maybe it was fate, and just perhaps it was sheer lack of options, but any which way they agreed to it. Kloppman fetched Snoddy and also a short Italian boy the girls hadn't met yet and sent them off to Newspaper Row.  
        Once outside, the boy lit a cigar. Sarah and Elyse wrinkled their noses. "What?" He exclaimed. "I can't smoke in dere, dis is a good as it gets. Heh. I heah ya's needs ta loin how to carry da banner.  Well, I'se taking away from me sellin' time taday so you betta listen good." He blew a puff of smoke into the wind, turned to them and bowed deeply and ungracefully. "Heya, I'm Racetrack Higgins, atcher soivice."  
        "Positively enthralling to meet you." Sarah lunged into a grotesque caricature of a curtsy.  
        Race laughed. "Ya got characta, kid. Wanna put some of that smahtass lip to woik?" he continued without pause. "Den sell papes wid it. Dis is how it goes fer us woikin' boys..." The exuberant boy explained for a half an hour the strategy and technique of swindling poor unassuming fools out of their pennies. Snoddy added tips and jokes at intervals, but Racetrack really knew how to explain pape-selling as an art.  
        The concept seemed horrible at first to the girls. Though the orphanage was no haven of virtue, they'd always been taught to tell the truth, and the example they were being given seemed far from it. The boy had walked up to a crowd, squawking about a major politician's death. When the paper was examined no such news was to be found. Race's logic was simple and effective; "Gov'ner's in town, debutante died of influenza. Da two stories were on the same page. Their loss, not mine."  
        After some time, the girls couldn't help but enjoy watching Race work a crowd outside a traveler's hotel. It took him not five minutes to milk the crowd and so he returned to the girls where they'd been waiting in the shade. "Wanna give it a go?" he offered, snickering. They eagerly took the challenge of ten papes apiece. 

Spread out along the busy street, they each had their own take on selling methods.  Jane opted for the loud exaggerated hawking.  She had a knack for yelling just the right catch-phrases for passing businessmen.  Elyse tried the same method, but didn't seem to be able to put heart into it and ended up sounding like a discouraged pigeon when she yelled after passersby.  Sarah approached her customers more quietly and wasn't shoved away as much as she thought she'd be.  After much thought, yelling, and a bit of time Snoddy and Racetrack came to retrieve their new apprentices.  
        "How'd ya do, goils?" Snoddy asked, a shade too excited.  
        Jane beamed. "Sold all of 'em in twenty minutes!" she squeaked.  
        Race gave her an appraising look and turned to Sarah. "What about you, coily?"  
         She shrugged. "I did okay, it took me longer than Jane. I guess I don't have the vile dishonesty you fine boys do," she said with a smile.  
         Snoddy chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, you gotta be able to bullshit in dis business ta get by. Shame, really...." He nodded to Elyse. "How'd you manage, shoity?" She looked away and mumbled something that sounded like, 'mmmf geese nidkee.' "'Scuse me?"  
        "I sold three, alright!?! You don't have to rub it in!" She stood with her back to the rest, arms violently crossed. "Besides," she fumed over her shoulder, "selling papers is a crummy business anyhow. Carrying the banner, my ass!" and she stormed into the nearest restaurant.  
        "Huh," Snoddy said after a moment. "That went well."

        Less than an hour later the group plus some extraneous "freelance workers," as they liked to call themselves, were seated and eating comfortably in Tibby's.  
         "Snod, ya goin' ta the t'ing at Medda's Friday?" one of the as yet unknown ones asked.  
         "Prolly. Depends, I guess. You goin', Nine?" he responded.  
         "Maybe. O'coise, chances are good I'll go if your girlie friends heah'll be dere," the boy called Nine said with a smirk. Sarah almost choked on her knockwurst.  
        Jane patted Sarah's hand. "Boys." she stated with a sympathetic look. "Hey," she directed towards Racetrack, "Who's Medda?"  
         "Only da best vaudeville perfoimer in all'a New Yawk!" he said. "She's havin' a kinda party deal dis Friday. Breakin' in da new band, I guess. It ain't high class er nothin', so she invited us newsies. You goin'?"  
         Jane squeaked "Sure!" at which Sarah rolled her eyes. "What goes on at these parties?" She asked, curious. Snoddy smiled and informed her. "Well, dere's drinkin', and smokin', and drinkin', and poker, and drinkin', and music, and drinkin', and dancin', an-"  
         "Drinkin'?" finished Race. He laughed, shaking his head. "Snoddy's always a fun guy at parties."  
         Elyse looked doubtful. "I don't know, Madame Meccant always told us those kind of things were bad for you."  
        Jane snorted. "She also told us gruel was healthy. C'mon Elyse, let's have some fun for once! We'll have such a ball that Meccant would roll in her grave."  
        "Who's dis Meccant lady ya keep talkin' about?" Nine asked. The girls explained about their supervisor, a native Jersey woman who pretended to be French in order to impress society, bitterly going into detail about how she cheated them out of a good childhood. They had an amusing tale or two of how her Jersey nature surfaced when she got angry. The conversation soon turned to how the trio had come to live at the orphanage.  
        Jane had lived with an aunt as a child. The aunt hadn't wanted to inherit Jane from her dead sister and brother-in-law in the first place and so the three year old was dumped on the orphanage steps with a one-word note: "Unwanted." Meccant never let Jane forget that she had no knowledge of her own past aside from the fact that she had been not worth keeping. Elyse had only lost one parent, but her father hadn't the competency to care for her and sent her to the state orphanage just after she had turned five. Sarah's past beyond the orphanage was shortest of all - she was left in the dirty streets before she had reached three months old and was picked up by the nuns who tended the children. From there they all moved by choice to the state-sponsored factory orphanage and had worked there since about age nine.  
        The girls found that other newsboys and "street arabs" had pasts similar to theirs. Abused or unwanted, many stumbled upon the lodging house after running away from home and the like. There was also a large number of boys who lived with families, working the streets for extra money so their poor families would be a little better off.  
        Nobody had realized they'd been talking for nearly two hours. Snoddy finally looked at his pocketwatch and exclaimed, "Holy moly! Afternoon edition comes out in t'ree minutes!" He stood and paid the waiter, then waited outside until the rest had filed out of the restaurant. Just as they got in line at the distribution office, he carefully placed himself next to Jane.  
        "Jane," he said quietly, "I really hope you go to Medda's Friday. It'd be really... swell if you'd go." He looked sheepishly at his shoes.  
        She thought a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Swell? Swell?!? Um I appreciate that..." she said, still chuckling. Snoddy started to turn a little pink around the edges. "Never mind, den," he mumbled, missing the large grin Jane shot at him.  
  
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        Two days later, the girls found Friday upon them. They'd all been working hard, even Elyse, to get enough extra money to pay Snoddy back for his generosity. Sarah made great ceremony about giving it to him.  
        "Here, sir, we thank you for putting up with us," she said with a bow and a giggle. "That should be roughly what you spent on us in the last three days. Now is there anything we can do for you?"  
        Snoddy broke into a goofy grin. "Shoah, you can all go to Medda's and have da time o' yer lives tanight!"   
        Sarah let out an explosive sigh of relief. "Good, that means no extra effort on our part; we were planning on going anyway!" He laughed as they left to prepare themselves for a festive night.  
        Snoddy took his newfound fortune to his bunk. He murmured under his breath, "Maybe I should have asked for sexual favors, eh?"  
  
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         "Jane! Get your sorry self out here before the party's over, will ya?" Sarah called from the hallway. She impatiently fidgeted until Jane emerged. "What on earth were you doing?" the jumpy girl demanded. "Primping." Jane replied. "C'mon, let's go!" she said, skipping towards the lobby.  
         "Primping? We've nothing to make ourselves prettier with, how could she _primp?" she mumbled as she followed Jane out of the lodging house. Elyse stepped out of an office doorway, unseen by her peers, and caught up with them as they neared Irving Hall. "Where were you?" the other two questioned.  
        "Nowhere," Elyse answered curtly. She picked up her pace and walked a short distance in front of them until they reached the theatre. While the other two looked for familiar faces, Sarah stood awestruck with the elaborate decorum and atmosphere of the place.  The walls were covered with a rich red-colored fabric with gold accents.  The building supports were painted gold and had ornate curliques at either end.  The stage itself was flanked by gold railings, the footlights causing them to glint warmly. Directly in front of the stage a space was cleared for dancing.  Around it sat expensive-looking, gleaming wood tables with linen tablecloths and matching chairs.  Sarah turned and looked upwards, where the imposing balcony emitted noises of the fledgling party.  
        Elyse yanked her out of her reverie. "Sarah! You're going to make us lose our table!" She dragged the partly dazed girl to a small round table from where they observed the revelries. The girls were entertained watching their workmates let loose, so to speak.  
        If it was amusing to watch, it was twice as amusing to take part in. As soon as Race spotted the girls he rushed over with three dark beers. "Heya goils, what took ya so long? Drink up, da band's settin' up right now and da music'll start soon. O'coise, some people don' wait for da music to begin partyin'," he said, looking over where Snoddy was loudly cheering on a poker game, spilling beer down his front at the same time. "I'll catch ya later, I'm gonna see if Medda needs any help...." Race walked away, smoothing his hair.  
        Jane instantly downed half her glass. "Not bad," she said, appraising the drink. Elyse glanced at hers, crinkling her nose and looking very repulsed. Sarah took one look at Snoddy, who was now standing up to argue a hand and accidentally washing the table in beer, shrugged and took a large sip herself._

            An hour and four beers later, Jane was having one hell of a night.  The stage and red décor were pleasantly spinning, and Snoddy seemed unusually close.  Granted, the last point was not only a figment of her inebriated imagination.  Her friends had noticed it and had been discussing at length what may or may not be going on.  Their conversation was laced with giggles and occasional outbursts of, "Wait, what was I talking about again?  Oh yes, that blasted elephant…" Madame Meccant would have walloped them had she seen, but perhaps that was part of the fun.  In any case, none of them could hold their liquor well, and they were becoming increasingly amused by that fact and its repercussions. 

            Some time passed before Sarah felt bitten by a particular brand of dancing bug that likes to strike just when one is getting too drunk to hold their composure on the dance floor.  While surveying the dance floor, she kept spotting a startling shock of blonde hair somewhere across the room.  After a bit of refocusing, she discovered that the face attached to the hair wasn't half bad.  In fact, she felt it was not-bad enough to wander over there to associate a name with the hair and all its attached parts.  She stood up and grabbed the nearest lone newsboy for a lively round of polka, figuring she'd whirl nearby enough to catch the the boy's name sooner or later.

            "Sarah, you know, I think it's important that Jane has a relationthip. I mean, relathionsmith.  I mean, you know, one of _those things."  Elyse gestured broadly with her glass, splashing a little liquid on the floor.  "She never really got to… Sarah?  Oh dear, I've lost her."  Elyse slid out of her chair and looked around the performance space.  The tables on the main floor were separated from the stage by the gold railing, on which Sarah appeared to be sitting.  She also appeared to be talking to a blonde-haired boy.  "Oh no you don't, misthy," Elyse slurred.  "Boys are baaad."  She awkwardly stumbled over to her friend._

            "Elyse!  Hey there, I just came over to request a song and this here nice young man engaged me in a riveting conversation.  Elyse, this is, um, what's your name again?" She was referring to the tall blonde-haired boy of about eighteen years of age standing next to her.  His gray shirt and worn suit were by no means of high quality, but he still managed to look very presentable.  The grayish eyes that peered at Elyse from behind steel-rimmed spectacles were smiling. Sarah leaned over a tad too close to ask him to introduce himself.  The alcohol seemed to have affected her inhibitions more than her speech.

            "Peter Rosengard.  The boys call me Dutchy  Nice ta meet ya, Elyse."

            Elyse gave him a withering if a bit wobbly stare.  She didn't like the way Sarah seemed quite so grin-inclined around him, nor the way his smile seemed completely without malice.  "Hiya. I think my illuthtristious friend here and myself are going to return to our table. S'thank you for your time, sir. 'Bye now!" She gave Sarah's arm a tug, sending the girl toppling to the floor.  Sarah managed to stay upright and began seething at her intoxicated friend before she even got her balance.

            "What was that?  Elyse, I was _talking!"_

            "Was. Now you're gonna look for Jane.  Wanna go back to the lodging house, Tummy hurts."  She began to weave around the tables with a disoriented stumble, dragging Sarah behind her.

            "Hey, wait a minute!  I'm not going to leave just because you don't feel good.  I was having a good time."  Elyse turned around and stared wide-eyed at her.  It was obvious that the information was not processing.  She blinked.

            "What?"  But her companion had already returned to the hubbub of the main floor.  Elyse fumed without definite direction for a few moments.  After a bit of thought she decided to direct her confused anger at a shot glass placed before her on the bar, and then into the empty glass after she'd downed its contents.  She passed out fairly quickly.

            "Elsie! Hey, Elsie, wake up!"  She winced at the harsh-sounding voice.  Why did it seem so loud?

            "Elll-sie! Hey!"  Oh, the voice was shouting, that's why.  What a pounding headache she had.  "You awake?"

            She looked at the source of the offending noise.  It was Nine, the boy she'd met in Tibby's a few days back.  "Now I am!  Lord, do you have to shout? The name's Elyse, if you don't mind.  My head hurts. Owww.  What time is it?"  After pointing out that the clock on the wall read 3:30 in the morning, Nine stood up and went to fetch the remaining portion of the trio. The others in the room shook their heads.  Someone murmured about not being able to handle liquor. Soon, the door swung open and was slammed shut with a crack so loud that made Elyse grab her head to hold in the pain.  Jane was so livid that she'd actually knocked a picture frame off the wall when she'd slammed the door.

            "Elyse! I cannot believe you!  We leave you on your own for five minutes and look what happens!  You've become a godforsaken DRUNK!"  

            The accused dropped her hands in angst and began to cry. "Oh my Lord, I'll never have a chance at _The Sun now. I -" She choked on her words.  "Oh my.  That wasn't supposed to come out."_

            "I bet it wasn't!  Elyse, what are you _talking about?"  Sarah looked hurt and threatened.  Jane stared, openmouthed._

            "Uh, I think we'se best be goin' now.  Have a good mornin', goils," Snoddy said with unease as he ushered the few acquaintances out of the small room.  He rightfully sensed that being in the near vicinity when this went down would not be good for his personal safety.

            Elyse had begun to viciously stare at the patterned blanket on her bed.  She was avoiding eye contact with her two comrades, knowing full well that this was not to be a light, happy conversation.  She cleared her throat just in case she had to scream for medical aid.  

            "Elyse, what do you mean you have a chance at _The Sun?"  Sarah made an effort to keep her voice steady.  "Did you… Are you trying for a job there?"  She recalled selling copies of the popular city newspaper in the past week, and wondered what her friend would be doing in association with the franchise.  Sarah stopped thinking about it and waited for an answer instead._

            "Well… you know how I wasn't very good at selling papers, and I sort of have a thing for writing and, um, having general direction in my life," Elyse stammered.  The last part sounded a little brutal and she knew it, but she felt a strong urge to get her logic across.  "I didn't want to tell you because I thought you'd get mad, and obviously-"

            Jane cut her off.  "Mad? _Mad? Oh, I'm not mad, I'm furious!  After all we've been through, I mean, we virtually grew up together! When we got out of that awful orphanage, we did it together. What do you think you're doing, going behind our backs and trying to get a job?  Lord, after the worrying we did tonight!  Sarah and I couldn't find you, we looked for almost an hour and nearly had heart attacks until some intelligent scab figured out that you were taken back here.  We ran fast as we could and then we thought you were dead, oh my __Lord, but no, you were just drunkenly passed out."  After shooting a disgusted look at the girl, Jane continued.  "Do you have any idea what went through our heads?? How can you do something like this after everything we strived for!" Jane's chest was heaving with rage by the time she finished.  She looked at Elyse, waiting for some kind of cognition that she'd understood or at least heard._

            Elyse's face crumpled like a broken marionette.  She made an attempt to hide that she was crying, but stopped trying after the sobs began to rack her body.  It felt so good to cry, she'd never known how to before.  After a while Sarah sat down on the edge of the bed and put her hand on her friend's back.  She shot Jane a warning glance to let her be.  They remained like that for a few moments.  Suddenly, Jane shot up from her chair with vehemence. 

            "I can't take this anymore! I don't believe you!  How can you side with her?  This isn't fair at all!"  She shot them both a resentful look.  "Am I the only one who cares around here?"  The pout she had acquired was enough to make anyone cringe.

            "No, you're not, but you aren't being very logical about what you care about!"  Sarah surprised them all by practically shouting, as she'd been silent throughout the ordeal.  "I was there looking for her too, but I seem to be the only one to be glad that she's alright."  Jane shifted her gaze away, angry that she'd been caught up in her own indignation.

"Oh, come on.  Get your act together and let's just go to bed.  We'll figure it out in the morning, and Elyse, you'll realize how silly this whole job thing is."  Jane started for the door, but was stopped by the determination in Elyse's reply.

"No I won't."  She lifted her watery eyes to set a steady look on Jane.  "This isn't going to change.  I want that job."

Sarah butted in before Jane could act on her frustrated, malicious expression that had blossomed at Elyse's statement.  "All right, so she wants to get a job somewhere else.  What's the big problem, Jane?  We got off the streets and we got a start working together, but she's not happy living like this. Frankly, I'm not all that content either." She turned her attention back to Elyse, who was still sniffling. 

Jane uttered a curse and slammed the door behind her retreating figure.  Sarah went to go after her but gave up when she saw the time.  "She'll sleep on it and maybe be a little more rational.  Are you all right, Elyse?"

"Just go away!  I've already ruined everything!"  The blonde girl buried her face in her pillow. Sarah tried to soothe the girl, and even resorted to softly singing their favorite lullaby to her.  

_"May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rains fall soft upon your fields. Until we meet again my friend, Until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand…"  _

Still Elyse wouldn't respond to Sarah's attempts to comfort her. Sarah finally resigned to make out her bed on the floor and went to get an extra pillow.  She very nearly fell over when she entered the hallway as she ran directly into someone standing where she'd tried to step.

"Oof!" she exclaimed. "Oh, hello Dutchy.  Sorry to run into you, I was just getting an extra… extra…" She was interrupted by her own yawn. "Pillow."

            "Hey, dat's alright.  I was just tryin ta figure out who was singing."  He flashed the sleepy girl a crooked smile. 

            Sarah's tired eyes filled with dismay. "Oh no! Did I wake you? Was I that loud? I'm terribly sorry! How can I make up for it?" She leaned hard against the wall with a sigh. "Nothing's going right tonight."

            "Dat was you? Sheesh, I had no idea. Dat was some awful pretty singing, Sarah. You should try ta get into Medda's show sometime!"

            "Ha! We've had enough alternate career choice made tonight, thanks." She laughed derisively. "I'm not good anyway.  I just sing for the heck of it."

            "Well, ya should do it more often. It's nice.  And I'm serious 'bout Medda, she's always lookin' fer help in some way." He paused for her to yawn.  "I guess you'se had a long night.  Lookin' fer a pillow, right?"  He led her to a tiny closet at the end of the hall. "Dis is wheah de extras are. Get some sleep, 'lright? G'night, Sarah."  He left her at her room door with an appreciative glance backwards as he retreated to his own room.

            She opened the door to her dark room, and was half asleep before she even covered herself fully with her blanket.


End file.
